]]>By: Zenitharhttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107221
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:13:23 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107221Hey Steve, why don’t you ask people to send in examples of really bad stories from barely-rewritten press releases or dull charity self-promotions? Because that’s what a lot of free (and paid for) papers are filled with these days. The examples quoted aren’t the best written stories, but the reporters have done a good job finding something interesting to write about instead of waiting for space-filling rubbish to fall into their laps. I’d rather read about someone fainting than another unimaginative fundraiser climbing Kilimanjaro or a shop celebrating its 7-month “anniversary”. That’s what social media-sourced stories should replace, not serious investigative and human interest journalism.

]]>By: Worried journalisthttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107220
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 17:01:55 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107220Not sure the amount of reporters is the issue. In this case it looks like they just rushed their work more than anything else. More care needed and make sure lead stories are infact lead stories I would say

]]>By: Steve Dysonhttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107219
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:58:36 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107219Many thanks to all for debating this subject. Some excellent points have been made above which emphasise the main problems:

1/ Tight resources are such that not enough time, thought and desking is available to ensure that what began for ‘immediate’ web is fit for ‘retrospective’ print.

2/ In this case, two few reporters are tasked with having to produce too much for very different formats.

]]>By: Geronimohttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107217
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 16:28:20 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107217The mind boggles.
Sutton Coldfield is a bustling newsy area and so there are no doubt lots of cracking tales to be told – if this paper had enough resources and staff to go out and get. We’re all doomed, I tell you….
Nest week “Temperatures were near zero on Tuesday and then there were flakes of snow for ten minutes as our town feared arctic conditions might begin.”
I’m glad I worked in happier, more rewarding years before retirement.
………….V.Meldrew

The ‘faint story’ underplays it a little. This woman stopped breathing and was convulsing – read the quotes not the headline. Anyone who stops breathing and needs medical attention IMHO is worthy of a story. Add in to this the fact it happened in a busy shopping area, with an ambulance and a community first responder attending, and people would have wondered what happened – further reasons to cover it.

The story on the man choking on his steak with his heart stopping – again a snapshot of what the emergency services and the volunteer medic did late at night and a life-threatening incident. Now we’d have liked to speak to his family but unless they came forward, we couldn’t.

As for this comment: “This man choking (but not dying) on his steak might well have made a story with quotes and pictures of him recovering,” Well we have been informed this man did die from this incident. We found out after the paper went to press. We did the best we could.

I’ll level with you, ideally we’d go to the coroner’s court and the inquest and get all the details. But this is where resources are THE issue.

We have two reporters on the title. That’s two reporters to cover the newspaper, website, Facebook, Twitter account, cover news as best we can seven days a week.

We give it a damn good go.

If you spoke to me Steve, you’d have got the full picture. But that involves old fashioned reporting – the right of reply!

]]>By: paperboyhttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107209
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 10:51:03 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107209the faint story is pitiful for a paper but OK for the web. I guess they were desperate to fill a hole. It happens.

]]>By: SeasideJournohttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107207
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 10:15:49 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107207Really interesting piece. Both cases highlighted would have done well online I’m sure – if people see an ambulance/fire engine etc in the street then there they are curious to know what happened and they want to know instantly. A few pars online would sort that no problem.

But by the time of publication (4-5 days later seemingly with the near-choke tale) no-one will be looking in the paper to see what had happened. If injuries were sustained then fine, that is newsworthy. But ’emergency services last week did their job and everyone is fine’ is not a story worthy of print when space is precious.

That is why I want to tear my hair out hearing publishing groups talk about ‘multi-platform’ stories. Some pieces are solely good for web and others solely for print.

]]>By: Steve Dysonhttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107203
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:45:14 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107203Duh! Thanks for the spot Paul Wiltshire … and let that error remain for all to see. You can be my news editor any day!

]]>By: Paul Wiltshirehttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107201
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:23:35 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107201Just doing a bit of newsdesk-checking for you, Steve: I think you meant to reminisce about physical rather than digital spikes in the first part of your last paragraph. Keep up the good work….

]]>By: User Generated Contenthttp://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2017/news/dyson-at-large-social-media-dramas-are-not-always-worth-page-leads/#comment-107200
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:23:30 +0000http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?p=1706778#comment-107200The reality is, Steve, the vast majority of reporters are writing almost exclusively for websites now. Stories of this nature are packaged up and pushed to websites double-quick before said reporters move on to the next traffic update, listicle, hygiene rating etc.

Production teams then pick these items at random out of ‘content systems’ and jam them into whatever space needs filling in the paper. Scarcely a newsdesk or senior journalist is involved in this process anymore because the emphasis is on turning around more copy for websites, and not on crafting strong page leads.